IN THE making for quite a while, Akshay Films' "Dreams" (U/A) is Dhanush's next offering after "Sullaan." Dhanush's father Kasthoori Raja has helmed the project  the story, screenplay, dialogue, direction and lyrics are his. You get the feeling that Kasthoori Raja is still basking in the box office glory of "Thullavadho Ilamai," because the film's influence is dominant in "Dreams."

"Dreams" opens in a grim courtroom with Shakti (Dhanush) in the box. And in all fairness the titles and the following few minutes make for some interesting viewing. You are led into believing that a murder has been committed and Shakti is the accused, and the suspense is maintained till the end. The story goes into flashback mode where you have the typical, filmi college scenario. Shruti (Diya) catwalks in and out of college and till the end you don't know whether Shakti and she were attracted to each other or not. Of course things reach a physical plane to cause enough turmoil and tragedy because Shakti is already in love with the meek and docile college student Charu (Parul Yadav).

There are a couple of scenes in a pimp's den that lead to blows between Shakti's group and the bad men. If you thought that it had anything to do with the main story you're wrong. These are sequences that hang loose. In fact many occurrences in "Dreams" stand disjointed. Shakti's challenge to Shruti that he would enter her bedroom at dead of night (How original!), his arrival and the rather sensual song sequence that follows all begin and end too abruptly. Either they have been badly edited, hastily cut or confusingly shot. Pyramid Natarajan's approach to youngsters may be positive, but his constant smile in court when his son is in such trauma is abominable.

When the bathroom scene with the lead pair in Selvaraghavan's "7/G Rainbow Colony" was highlighted in a hoarding before the release of the film, it created quite a stir. Eventually the scene was not seen in the film. But in "Dreams" Kasthoori Raja has conveniently used a similar sequence, very crudely conceived, and seems to have got away with it too! Sheer scatology and nothing more!

Dhanush tries to retrieve "Dreams" from the quagmire with his convincing portrayal. Diya serves the purpose with the two song sequences. Parul is expressive  but the character with its exaggerations is a replica of the "Sethu" heroine. Kuyili's is a caricature that tends to take over-action to irritating levels. Suddenly feeling responsible about the generation, Kasthoori Raja makes the elders in "Dreams" (Rajesh, `Thalaivaasal' Vijay) sermonise in a serious vein and that again is another exasperating aspect you could have done well without. Kichas' camera doesn't make things easy on the eye either. Not one of Bharadwaj's compositions stirs you.

You only hope that Dhanush does some serious retrospection and in future chooses films with care. He should not relent even for the sake of dad's dream projects. After all, having acquired such incredible fan following in a very short while, he cannot afford to be reckless.